Mutation
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Any alteration or change. countable, uncountable
- 2 a change or alteration in form or qualities wordnet
- 3 Any heritable change of the base-pair sequence of genetic material. countable, uncountable
"Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe."
- 4 (genetics) any event that changes genetic structure; any alteration in the inherited nucleic acid sequence of the genotype of an organism wordnet
- 5 A mutant. countable, uncountable
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 (biology) an organism that has characteristics resulting from chromosomal alteration wordnet
- 7 An alteration in a particular sound of a word, especially the initial consonant, which is triggered by the word's morphological or syntactic context and not by its phonological context. countable, uncountable
- 8 The transfer of title of an asset in a register. countable, uncountable
- 9 A group of thrushes. collective, countable, noun, rare, uncountable
"Birdwatchers would enjoy a host of sparrows, a herd of swans, a descent of woodpeckers, a herd of wrens, and mutation of thrushes."
Example
More examples"There are no reports on this mutation because such a mutant wouldn't even be born."
Etymology
Late 14th century as Middle English mutacioun, from Latin mūtātiō, both directly and via Old French mutacion.
Related phrases
More for "mutation"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.